The Marquise of O

Attempting to achieve an objective version of Kleist's style, Rohmer gives us the surface -- a quaintly amusing account of a woman whole idealism is betrayed.

This picture, all gussied up into stage tableaux, looks like a Goethe House Gala performed in Bloomingdale's Show Rooms.

This minor Rohmer may not have much to offer beyond the clarity of its perspective (and the soft beauty of Nestor Almendros's delicate cinematography), but its message will only grow more urgent in time.

All in all, the Marquise of O imparts a subtle but thoroughgoing feminism, both in its mode of presentation and in its intellectual content.